Pritzker, Johnson, and the art of defending the indefensible
It would be somewhat amusing to watch Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon “6.6 percent” Johnson mount a defense of their record on crime — if it weren’t so tragic. In fact, it is nauseating to watch these two poor excuses for men, one a billionaire governor who cosplays as a regular guy, the other a flailing mayor whose approval rating barely registers, standing shoulder to shoulder at a press conference telling Chicagoans with straight faces that everything is just fine on crime. They would have us believe that the city known across America as the “Murder Capital” is actually on the mend. They would have us believe that our own National Guard, our own troops, are a bigger threat to us than the super-predators who shed our blood daily.
The trouble for them is that the facts, those stubborn things, aren’t on their side, and Donald Trump is on the side of the people of Chicago.
Democrats in denial
President Trump doubled down on his offer to send federal help — possibly including the National Guard — into Chicago to restore order. He stressed that the city “desperately needs help.” He’s not wrong. However, before he could even finish the thought, the Democratic elite, protected of course by their vast and heavily armed Praetorian guards, fired back in hypocritical unison:
- Kwame Raoul, the state’s attorney general, declared there was “no emergency in Illinois.”
- Pritzker pounded his massive chest like a great ape’s dominance ritual and warned Trump to “stay away.” (Isn’t he a tough guy? He must have learned that on the playing fields of the Latin School).
- Johnson, flanked by Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, insisted that “progress” was being made.
- Even Father Michael Pfleger, that old reliable voice of performative outrage, was trotted out to lend his “credibility.”
What none of them could deny, however, is the hard number etched in blood: 573 murders in Chicago in 2024, more than any other city in America —more than New York (more than twice our size), more than Los Angeles, much larger cities with their own notorious crime problems. Chicago, once again, took home the bloody crown.
The numbers don’t lie — but the mayor does
Pritzker and Johnson prefer to talk in terms of percentages, but percentages mean little when you are still burying 573 human beings in a single year. Percentages mean little when your city has had the highest homicide toll of any major U.S. city for seven straight years running, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Percentages mean nothing to the family who gets the midnight call that their son won’t be coming home.
Only in Chicago politics could cutting murder down from apocalyptic to merely catastrophic be presented as progress.
The spin machine vs. reality
NBC News dutifully repeated City Hall’s talking points. Johnson “touted significant reductions.” Pritzker claimed “historic investments” in violence interrupters were “working.” The state’s elite insist consitions on the city's streets are getting better.
But the White House told a different story. Their report, aptly titled “Yes, Chicago Has a Crime Problem — Just Ask its Residents,” pointed out the glaring reality: Chicago led the nation in murders last year.
The city’s defenders fall back on technicalities: Well, it’s not the highest per capita … well, we’re not top 25 most dangerous … well, other places are worse. None of that matters to the law-abiding citizens. We don’t care how Memphis or Baltimore rank. We care that our city feels unsafe. We care that carjackings, robberies, beatings, and rapes leave entire neighborhoods living under siege.
Protecting the criminal class
Here’s the dirty secret: Pritzker and Johnson are not simply incompetent — they are ideologically opposed to law and order. They would rather posture about “equity” than fund the 2,000 vacant police positions in the Chicago Police Department. They would rather pay so-called “violence interrupters” — some of whom have been caught obstructing law enforcement and actually committing crimes themselves — than back their own officers.
Chicago cops know this. That’s why so many leave, taking jobs in suburbs where they’re respected and appreciated. Where justice isn’t obstructed by their city. Where city councils don’t stab them in the back. Where the mayors don’t see them as the enemy, all the while using them for a bloated personal security entourage.
Meanwhile, the gangs remain. Their grip tightens. Entire blocks, entire neighborhoods like South Shore, live under their thumb. The political class has in effect handed control of Chicago’s streets to the most predatory and violent predators in our community.
Johnson’s hollow promises
Johnson always says, “We know that we have more work to do,” but then proceeds not to do it!
Every time he says it, it rings hollower and hollower as shots continue to ring out but no ShotSpotter is there to hear them, so the victims’ cries go unheard as they bleed out, alone and neglected, left to die by a mayor who cares more about politics than his own people.
If 573 murders aren’t enough of a wake-up call, what is? 700? 800? 1,000? What body count is it going to take for Two-Ton Pritzker and Mayor 6.6 to swallow their pride and admit they need the help so generously offered by our Federal government to save the lives of Chicagoans?
The truth is Johnson cannot and will not do the work, because he is handcuffed by ideology and beholden to the activist class that put him in office.
This is the same mayor who cheers “defunding” when it’s politically convenient, then pivots to “community investment” when reality bites. The same mayor who insists “crime is dropping” while in reality bodies are dropping as he presides over neighborhoods where parents won’t let their kids walk to the corner store for fear of gun violence.
Johnson represents the worst of progressive politics: A smug, arrogant, ignorant refusal to admit failure even as blood runs in the streets.
The citizens vs. the criminal facilitators
Here’s what Pritzker and Johnson forget: There are more law-abiding citizens in this city than criminals. For all the headlines about gangs and cartels, Chicago is still full of decent, hardworking people who want the basics — safety, prosperity, and peace. They understand that public safety is the fundamental human right, not some evil GOP plot.
And those people are watching. They are watching their governor and their mayor stand in front of the cameras and defend the indefensible. They are watching as their leaders treat the federal government like the enemy instead of a desperately needed ally against the real enemy — the criminal element that roams the streets, instead of being behind bars where they belong. They are watching as violent criminals are treated with more sympathy than their victims.
Eventually, they will vote. And when they do, those who aid and abet criminals for the sake of playing politics may find that their time in office is up.
What must be done
Chicago’s path forward is not complicated. We know what works:
- Hire cops. Fill the 1,400 vacancies. Stop bleeding experienced officers.
- Back the Blue. End the hostility toward law enforcement. Give them the tools, training, and political cover they need.
- Use the law. Federal RICO statutes exist for a reason. They should be applied to the gangs running this city like organized crime families.
- End the gimmicks. Stop pouring money into “violence interrupters” and other activist grifts. Fund real policing and real prosecution.
- Welcome help. If federal law enforcement offers resources, take them. This is not about partisan pride — it’s about saving lives.
The choice ahead
The contrast is stark. On one side, Trump — absolutely right that Chicago is in crisis and needs help. On the other side, Pritzker and Johnson —bloated, smug, and content to spin percentages while corpses pile up.
Chicagoans don’t need lectures about how things are “getting better.” They don’t need politicians congratulating themselves for a crime rate that still makes us the laughingstock of America. They need leaders who will fight for them instead of for criminals.
Until then, Chicago will remain the Murder Capital of America, misruled by men too cowardly to admit the truth.
Chicago doesn’t need more excuses — it needs courage. Courage to tell the truth. Courage to stand up to gangs. Courage to put citizens before criminals. Until that day comes, Chicago will remain a city of body counts and empty promises, ruled not by leaders, but by enablers, misgoverned by woke Democrats, who would rather fight the president of our country than the mass murderers who roam our streets unmolested.
The 1987 film The Untouchables told the tale of the roaring 1920s when federal agents were needed to cleanse a corrupt, cowardly Chicago run by violent criminal gangs.
Perhaps once again, in these roaring ‘20s of the 21st century, we need a modern-day Elliott Ness in the person of Donald J. Trump to come in and clean this town up once and for all.
